SB says only 40% of SLFP with Rajapaksa

KANDY – Only 40 percent of the divided Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) backed the former President Mahinda Rajapksa, Minister S. B. Dissanayake said in Kandy.

The others supported President Maithripala Sirisena, Minister Dissanake said, fielding queries from the media in Kandy, where he attended a sports event.The Minister said that the SLFP was a political organisation comprising people who held different views.

President Sirisena had not grabbed the leadership of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and it had been handed over to him, Dissanayake said.

Arresting Ven. Galagodatte Gnanasara Thera was the responsibility of the police and the allegation that Minister Champika Ranawaka had links to the monk in hiding was part of a campaign to sling mud at him (Ranawaka), Dissanayake said.